The Canadian dollar strengthened against its US counterpart on Friday, adding to this week's gains, driven by a less dovish interest rate outlook from the Bank of Canada compared with the Federal Reserve. Canada's central bank on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate steady at 1.75% and made clear it had no intention of easing monetary policy. That stance has contrasted with dovish guidance this week from the Fed.
Investors are betting that the Fed will cut interest rates at the end of this month and ease further by October. The loonie was lifted by "divergence" in monetary policy between the Bank of Canada and the Fed, said Bipan Rai, North American head of FX strategy at CIBC Capital Markets.
At 4:01 pm. (2001 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.3% higher at 1.3031 to the greenback, or 76.74 US cents. The currency touched its strongest intraday level since Oct. 25 at 1.3018. For the week, the loonie was up 0.4%. It has climbed 4.7% since the start of the 2019, the best performance among G10 currencies.
Canadian government bond prices were higher across the yield curve, with the 2-year up 4.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.579% and the 10-year rising 21 Canadian cents to yield 1.607%. Earlier in the day, the 10-year yield touched its highest since May 24 at 1.649%. Gains for the loonie this week came as data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Reuters calculations showed that speculators have raised bullish bets on the currency. As of July 9, net long positions in the loonie rose to 9,226 contracts from 6,293 contracts in the prior week.
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